I've seen this same switch in my neuroscience/neuroimaging field (but over the past 4 years). For a long time neuroimaging post-processing was all Windows. Then it went to Linux (mostly). Now it is almost all Linux and OS X (with some Windows). At conferences or training meetings, most people seem to be running Macs. They have all the benefits of Linux/Unix plus, as you wrote, all the benefits of OS X (plus it's trivial to also run Windows on Macs {yes, that's true for most boxes running Linux}). I keep thinking I should be using Linux more than I do but I have no reason to when I have all the tools I need from Linux in OS X and I don't have fiddle around just to get Linux working flawlessly on my computer (some distros do "just work" now, mostly).

Maybe they still mutate. Maybe they are mutant aliens. Maybe they mutated into turtle-looking creatures. Alien and mutant are not mutually exclusive.

"as much as I think Michael Bay is possibly the most inept and visually retarded filmmaker of all time"

That's giving so many other directors way too much credit (obvious example, Ewe Boll).

I really enjoyed the Star Trek reboot. In my opinion, it was the the best of the Star Trek movies (but I was never a Trekkie) - yes, I know some people would hang me over that statement. I liked some of the original TV show and movies (as well as Enterprise) but as I said, my life didn't revolve around Star Trek. I just think the new movie was the best of the Star Trek films.

Some of his movies are pretty good. I'll admit that I thought The Island was pretty good and almost thought-provoking. There are many worse movies out there and worse directors.

The shift in CD prices started earlier than 1999. I only rarely paid $15-$20 for a CD at that point, most of them were in the $10-$12 range (purchased on "sales" and online). What Apple did was solidify that price point without having to scour around too much for a deal on an album.

Further, singles were almost always $3-$5 (usually closer to $5). I purchased one single in my life back in the 90s (it was a song not available on an album) but generally would purchase an entire album because I could get the album for $10 (this was when there were starting to be reasonable CD prices). Now singles are inexpensive but back in 90s or earlier, if a song was available as a single, it was still pricey.

I've never had the OS of any of my iOS devices crash (I've had apps crash on occasion but it's really quick to get them open and going again). My Android phone (a $300 Motorola model, new last July) has many app crashes, many more than I see on iOS. Further, I've had the OS crash 5 times in the 7 months I've owned the phone. It's more stable with a custom ROM than it was with stock but it's still far more unstable than anything I see in iOS.

Yes, most of the time they are app crashes and not OS crashes but the OS crashes occur too.

Motorola sued Apple about this issue (maybe not in Germany but certainly here in the U.S.) before Apple really started going after other companies. I'm not defending Apple, I'm just pointing out that this didn't happen to Apple because of them "flinging around lawsuits", Motorola went after Apple before that happened.

True, but why didn't he do this when he had almost a supermajority of Democrats in Congress (during the first 2 years of his time in office)? Getting things passed at that point should have been easy for him (like the massive environmental bill, the massive health insurance reform, and the various stimulus bills were easy). The problem is that Pres. Obama says he cares but he does not do anything about it, except for when he can self-handicap himself (like he can do now with Republicans in control of the House) and reduce his apparent culpability for inaction (i.e., it's the Republicans' fault). Pres. Obama had a wonderful chance to make so real changes to the tax code and other fiscal policy measures but he did not do anything. Conrgess didn't do anything. For better or worse, at least Pres. Bush and the Republicans made changes to the tax code (the changes were positive, the massive increase in spending including for 2 wars were not positive).

Many government meetings begin with prayer; this occurs less than it used to but prayers before government meetings have been the norm since the founding of the nation. Being able to have a prayer at a political rally or a governmental function is a right protected by the 1st Amendment. What is prohibited is declaring a state religion (e.g., the only recognized and sanctioned religion is the Catholic Church or the Methodists or the Baptists) and impeding the free exercise of other religions.

Our nation was founded as a true Judeo-Christian nation, which means that diverse religious or irreligious beliefs are accepted and respected. Our Constitution would not exist without the influence of Christianity (I'm not saying a particular church, I'm referring to the broader Christian belief system). It also wouldn't exist without the influence of some important philosophers. I'm merely saying that Christianity (but particularly the freedom of religion sought by many of the early immigrants to the New World) was a necessary but not sufficient condition for the Constitution.

They are targeting high school and middle school first then will likely move on to college level. It's still a good start for bringing the price of textbooks down.

I agree completely. If I had the money for one, I'd buy a Volt in a heartbeat.

The past is already censored. We don't study the past so we already don't learn from it. A few people study history but many of our history sources are biased already. The only way to get the least unbiased sources are to go to the primary sources, which few people do (or have the ability to do). Even then, what we have about the past is limited and biased towards/by the literate.

Do what I plan on doing. Put a book together for class and offer it as free. Then, provide all the materials (text, images, videos, etc.) to students without an iOS device; the formatting doesn't have to be as nice.